by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College women's tennis team recorded a 7-2 victory at home on Wednesday against the Belmont Abbey College Crusaders. The Bulldogs and Crusaders entered the match tied for third place in the Conference Carolinas standings.
Barton (11-9, 7-2) broke a tie in the league standings with its third consecutive win and now holds sole possession of third place. Belmont Abbey (10-11, 6-3) recorded a win at the No. 1 doubles position and would take a point in singles competition.
Junior Vanessa Sanoja and freshman Ada Vargas would give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the match by defeating Belmont Abbey's Darian DeFrench and Erica Dorn, 8-5.
Freshman Claudia Capellades and junior Whitney Hamilton upped the lead to 2-0 as the duo outlasted Erika Noblett and Morgan Zahnd, 8-7 (6-0). Junior Daria Avram and sophomore Marissa Stevenson would be unable to give BC a 3-0 advantage in the match as they dropped an 8-7 (6-0) decision to the top pairing of Tegan McNamara and Riley Ellingson for the Crusaders.
Stevenson would open singles competition by tallying her 11th consecutive victory for the Bulldogs with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Ellingson. Vargas kept the momentum going for the Bulldogs as she upped the lead to 4-1 by handing Morgan Nguyen a 6-2, 6-3 loss at the No. 4 position.
Barton would clinch the match against the Crusaders with a victory at the No. 2 position as Sanoja defeated DeFrench 6-0, 7-5 to make it 5-1 BC. Avram followed by tallying a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 victory at the No. 1 position against Belmont Abbey's McNamara.
Belmont Abbey tallied its lone victory in singles play at the No. 6 position as Noblett defeated Hamilton 6-0, 6-0 before Capellades and the Bulldogs closed the match with a 6-3, 2-6, 11-9 win at the No. 5 spot.
The Bulldogs host North Greenville University on April 13 at 2 p.m. and finish regular season play at home on April 14 against Southern Wesleyan.
